May I Recommend...

[gabowman]

...that the ones of you that truly enjoy longlining as much as I do to go back and "scout" out a few of your spring haunts looking for bait and fish? I dont know why...but I've been just simply BLISTERING the fish the past couple weeks fishing in 12'-18' of water on flats catching the hound out of fish underneath just an ample supply of baitfish. The water is clear and the temps at daylight are in the upper 80's but for whatever reason theyre there and hungry. Granted....you'll catch a TON of little guys but this time of the year especially who cares! Weed thru the little guys dropping the keepers over 10" in the livewell or cooler and carry home a decent mess of fresh fish to eat. And...all that before it gets too hot. I've been fishing from daylight until about 10:30AM and my slowest day from my past three trips was 100 crappie caught. You can check out my reports if you want to on the SC vboards.

Reason for my post is I dont know why....but theyre biting an I hate seeing you diehards missing out on a great summer bite (which IMO is crazy and un-heard of). Dont miss the fun. Hitch up early and get there by daylight and catch you some!

[TnT]

Nice report, Butch Wish I had time to try it but that Jay-Ohhh-Bee seems to be getting in my way and those Honey-o's on the weekends are killin' me. Going for total knee replacement next Friday so I guess it will be Sept/Oct time frame before I can get out on the water and fish...Can't wait till Fall....Keep on slayin'em!!!!

[Dutch]

Hitting the river ledges at Blackshear Friday morning. Been 2 months almost since I have been on the water.

[gabowman]

Good luck on that surgery. I know youll do fine and snap back quickly.

Good luck on the fishing Dutch.

[papasage]

where are you putting in at Dutch
thinking about trying it early friday .

[Dutch]

where are you putting in at Dutch
thinking about trying it early friday .

Veterans...but looks like it will be Sunday before I can go now.

[papasage]

Sat for me and maybe Sunday

[gabowman]

The water is heating up FAST guys. This morning it started at almost 89*. The bite was off tremendously. I still see the fish on the graph. ALOT of the bait isnt showing up now but what is showing is very near the bottom in 15'-18' of water. Here's what today looked like for me...



This is what my graph looked like first thing today. Notice there's a thermacline below the 10' range and the fish stayed above it. As the morning progressed the thermacline disappeared and the baitfish started showing up near the bottom. Last week the bait was above the fish and they were much more active. I only took one picture of the clouds of bait near the bottom but when uploading it I saw it too blurred so it was deleted.



It was clear and sunny skies today which means it got hot QUICK. Even with an umbrella up I was sweating so I called it a day early and quit at 9:35AM. Final tally was 45 crap[pie (lots of small ones) and here's the fish I brought home.



Hopefully the temps will drop a little and we'll get the forecasted couple inches of rain I heard about on the radio this morning. I think all we need is the water temps to drop back into the lower 80's and theyll turn on again like the last few weeks. Anyway, 6 weeks till bow season so I'll probably take a few weeks off fishing to do a little getting ready for hunting season. Good fishing to you guys.